culture
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That Study Saying Nearly Half of Black Males Get Arrested by Age 23? It’s Wrong
Here’s what a research study feels like to a black male teenager: “To be seen as a person with a name … then poof! A statistic, a memory and, to many, a shame,” said an 11th-grader named Asa Fludd. I repeat this quote often to remind social advocates and cultural critics alike that our reckless…
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Jahi McMath in ‘Very Bad Shape’ After Transfer
The situation is looking increasingly grim for Jahi McMath’s family, with her family’s attorney now reporting that her body has deteriorated so much, “we don’t know if she’s going to make it,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Jahi underwent what was supposed to be a routine tonsillectomy in early December at Children’s Hospital Oakland in…
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Dennis Rodman Sings ‘Happy Birthday’ to Kim Jong Un
Dennis Rodman seems to be enjoying his trip to North Korea, where he is helping Kim Jong Un celebrate his birthday. On Wednesday the embattled NBA star sang a rather tone-deaf rendition of “Happy Birthday” to his “friend,” which he topped off with a bow before taking part in a game between a team of…
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Kanye vs. ‘Coinye’
Kanye just can’t get a break. The “Yeezus” rapper is currently in the middle of a legal fight against a digital currency that mockingly uses his name and image, the New York Post reports. “Coinye,” as it’s called, was created by an anonymous group of Web developers, designed to rival Bitcoin, another digital currency that…
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New Study Finds That Racism Makes Black Men Old
A study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has shown that racism may accelerate aging in African-American men. Researchers at the University of Maryland found signs of accelerated aging in African-American men who reported high levels of racial discrimination and who had internalized anti-black attitudes, UMD Right Now reports. While it has been…
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Principal Fired for Standing Up for Free-Lunch Kids
A former principal at a Colorado charter elementary school claims that she was fired after she tried to stop a school policy that she believed embarrassed kids who received free lunch, Rawstory reports. Noelle Roni, former principal at Peak to Peak Charter School, revealed in an interview published by the Daily Camera on Monday that…
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Michelle Obama’s 50th Invite: Eat Before You Get Here
Michelle Obama has made healthful eating a priority on her agenda as first lady, but guests attending her upcoming 50th birthday bash better eat before they get there. That’s right, Michelle Obama included the old refrain used in many an African-American household, informing VIP guests lucky enough to receive a save-the-date email “to eat…
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4 Things to Tell Teens Who Joke About Race
“I am a white woman who works with a racially diverse group of teens in an after-school program. I hear a lot of jokey, self-directed racism: a Latino teen with a new haircut jokes that he now looks like ‘Justin Beaner’; two girls from Peru make negative comments about who has darker skin after they spend the afternoon…
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Dennis Rodman and North Korea: A Love Story
I guess it’s better to be a fool with “friends” than a fool alone. That’s the first thing that came to mind when I heard that NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman was bringing a cadre of “All Stars” to North Korea to play an exhibition game. I believed this even more after Rodman’s sometimes…
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Why Legalized Weed Is Good News for Young Black Men
As the legalization of marijuana promises to join the legalization of gay marriage as part of the unanticipatedly rapid social revolution that will define our times, we will be hearing certain ruminations. And not only from fire-breathing moralists easy to dismiss as “behind the times.” I refer to wiser heads worried that legalization will raise…